1860
THE WOMAN IN WHITE
BY WILKIE COLLINS
1867
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
BY FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY
1878
THE LEAVENWORTH CASE
BY ANNA KATHARINEGREEN
1898
THE TURN OF THE SCREW
BY HENRY JAMES
1902
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
1926
THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
BY AGATHA CHRISTIE
Christie earned a reputation as the “queen of crime” through her 66 acclaimed detective novels. In Ackroyd, one of her first books to feature detective Hercule Poirot, the sleuth sets out to solve the mystery of who murdered his friend. But Poirot isn’t the reader’s guide to this story—it’s James Sheppard, a local doctor helping Poirot, who serves as the book’s narrator. Through Sheppard’s perspective, Christie manipulates and outwits the reader, building to an ending that feels earned in 2023 and was utterly shocking when the novel came out in 1926.
